path advice?

[charliebrown]

ms4, didn't match into ophtho. thinking about path. any advice? I'm sure I'd be competitive (top 1/4 of class(non-AOA), strong step 1,2). How many path LOR's will I need? Is a prelim year needed (ie, should I go for prelim medicine via NRMP this year)? FAQ's were helpful, but I'm looking for more specifiic advice. thanks,!!

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[b&ierstiefel]

ms4, didn't match into ophtho. thinking about path. any advice? I'm sure I'd be competitive (top 1/4 of class(non-AOA), strong step 1,2). How many path LOR's will I need? Is a prelim year needed (ie, should I go for prelim medicine via NRMP this year)? FAQ's were helpful, but I'm looking for more specifiic advice. thanks,!!

i'm sorry to hear that you didn't match into ophtho...i realize that you're feeling down in the dumps but it's good that you're thinking of backup options and moving swiftly. and i'm sure you will be competitive for path.

you need at least one path letter. 2 is better. some people have 3 but i personally think the difference between 2 vs. 3 path LORs isn't huge.

prelim year is NOT needed so don't apply to prelim or transitional programs.

i will warn you though that it is near the end of the interview season at many places. are you thinking of trying to match this year or next year?

again, sorry to hear about your situation. feel free to PM me with any questions that you would feel uncomfortable asking on the forum. i obviously haven't matched yet but i'll try to be helpful as possible.

best of luck.

 

[charliebrown]

I think I'll have to wait till next year, since it's so late. I'd think I'd be competitive at a top place, so waiting a year might be smarter than scrambling into a 2nd-rate program. any thoughts?

 

[yaah]

I think I'll have to wait till next year, since it's so late. I'd think I'd be competitive at a top place, so waiting a year might be smarter than scrambling into a 2nd-rate program. any thoughts?

Well, you could always see how the scramble goes. Never know what kinds of openings there are going to be. You might get some questions about your background given that you didn't apply during the regular match though, so I'm not sure how this would go. But a lot of times programs aren't looking for the best candidates in the scramble anyway.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

I think I'll have to wait till next year, since it's so late. I'd think I'd be competitive at a top place, so waiting a year might be smarter than scrambling into a 2nd-rate program. any thoughts?

don't scramble...if you do, the chances of you selling yourself short are very high. you certainly don't want that for yourself. if you want to go to a highly prestigious program, then apply this upcoming year and aim high. path hasn't gotten competitive enough to prevent a person with your grades/class rank/test scores to get the interviews of your choosing.

do you have any idea whether you want to do AP only, CP only, or AP/CP? The scramble is much tougher for AP and AP/CP but you could probably find a good spot if you commit to CP only. However, your career options are SEVERELY limited if you do CP only.

oh another question i would ask yourself is "do i wanna do community practice or academic pathology?" if you want to do community practice, you can go anywhere, get solid training, and then go out into the community and do your thing (although, there may be some concern about the difficulty in finding jobs). if you want to do academics and research, you want to go to a top-notch institution.

 

[wiboy]

if you want to do community practice, you can go anywhere, get solid training, and then go out into the community and do your thing (although, there may be some concern about the difficulty in finding jobs). if you want to do academics and research, you want to go to a top-notch institution.

Sorry to hijack, but what is the issue with difficulty of finding jobs in community practice?

 

[DasN]

I wish you the best of luck, but just make sure that Path is really what you want to do. I would advise against a career change if you would regret your decision or continue to be dissapointed that you didnt get Ophtho. I feel to be happy in Path you really have to love it. Anyway Hope this helps.

 

[yaah]

Sorry to hijack, but what is the issue with difficulty of finding jobs in community practice?

Because with CP only you can't do the things that are important to community jobs. Surg path, cytology. CP things are mostly automated and a lot of it is done with minimal active pathologist input. You just have to supervise and be the leeway with clinicians on tough issues, and approve certain things. If you are trained AP/CP you can cover the lab as part of your job but still do other things. Having a person dedicated to the CP parts of the lab isn't practical unless it's a really large facility.

Hemepath is important in private practice, but it might be tough to get a hemepath fellowship with only CP training.

 

[Logos']

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[charliebrown]

thanks for the advice, very helpful. at this point I'm not sure about path but weighing my options re: reapplying for optho, or doing something else.

Obviously one things about path that's exciting is the lifestyle issue; I also have gotten fed up with the social issues, etc. that the regular specialties (IM, surg, peds, etc) have to deal with. Optho is partly immune (but not entirely), and path is of course as well. certainly, the whole science-in-action thing is a draw too; I'll be talking to some path attendings/residents at my school and maybe an elective or 2 before graduation.

I'm guessing ap/cp route is better since I should be thinking long-term about job prospects. ps-- what's the job market like these days? salary?? thanks again!!

 

[yaah]

what's the job market like these days? salary?? thanks again!!

Oy. I tire of this question, no offense. There is stuff in the FAQ and in a number of recent threads - sometimes unfortunately buried in threads that don't seem to be related to salary though.

 

[tsj]

I think I'll have to wait till next year, since it's so late. I'd think I'd be competitive at a top place,

Maybe. Maybe not. I think anyone that matches at a top path program could easily match into optho. Every applicant to our program would have easily been competitive at any optho program (most had step 1>240, kick ass letters, kick ass dean's letter, about 1/3 were AOA, 1/3-1/2 with PhDs, most had published/presented at a conference and a suprising number had first authorship).

But there are certainly solid programs which you could easily match into next year.

 

[LADoc00]

Dont do path or any field for that matter just because you happened to not match in optho this year, refine your resume, do research, make contacts and apply again. We are talking about something you will be doing the rest of your life and settling on a back up plan is not an option unless you want to be sitting one day surrounded by empty Ole English bottles with a .357 magnum to your head.

Trust me, trend cautiously here.

 

[Gut Shot]

surrounded by empty Ole English bottles

Ah, the *real* Magic 8 Ball...

 

[yaah]

Dont do path or any field for that matter just because you happened to not match in optho this year, refine your resume, do research, make contacts and apply again. We are talking about something you will be doing the rest of your life and settling on a back up plan is not an option unless you want to be sitting one day surrounded by empty Ole English bottles with a .357 magnum to your head.

Trust me, trend cautiously here.

'Tis sound advice. If you enter path, are you going to continously try to switch out and into ophtho? PDs will be concerned about this. While they want the best residents possible, they are not going to take someone who is a risk of leaving for any number of reasons (hates the location, hates the field, whatever). In the great scheme of things, one year extra is not a terrible burden. Perhaps if you take this year off and are productive, you can make yourself more competitive for ophtho, and if you find you also like path, maybe you can apply to both in case ophtho doesn't work out again. There is no law against applying to different specialties.

 

[pongo]

Long-time lurker, new poster here (PGY-1 AP/CP UVa). To reiterate what others have already said, do not go into path because it is a "lifestyle" specialty with a relatively easy match. For one, PDs will easily pick up on this, and will be afraid to take you. Secondly, lifestyle does not matter if you don't like what you are doing. You will still have to work 40-80 hrs/week during residency, depending on the rotation, and will probably work ~50 hrs/week afterwards. You've gotta have a passion for the field to enjoy spending that much time doing it for the next 40 years. Take a year to reevaluate what you wanna do. If you love path, go for it, and you will be able to pick your residency position with those numbers, provided you get good path letters and demonstrate your committment to the specialty in your application.

 

[yaah]

Long-time lurker, new poster here (PGY-1 AP/CP UVa). To reiterate what others have already said, do not go into path because it is a "lifestyle" specialty with a relatively easy match. For one, PDs will easily pick up on this, and will be afraid to take you. Secondly, lifestyle does not matter if you don't like what you are doing. You will still have to work 40-80 hrs/week during residency, depending on the rotation, and will probably work ~50 hrs/week afterwards. You've gotta have a passion for the field to enjoy spending that much time doing it for the next 40 years. Take a year to reevaluate what you wanna do. If you love path, go for it, and you will be able to pick your residency position with those numbers, provided you get good path letters and demonstrate your committment to the specialty in your application.

Welcome pongo - that's good advice, well stated.

My work week ranges from about 40-45 hours per week while on clinical chem to up to 70 during busy surg path (without including out of hospital reading and self education time)

 

[EvilNewbie]

I don't know, it might be "too" late to apply now. I would think ALOT of programs are done interviewing already since most don't even have Februrary interview dates (well, the ones I applied to anyhow). That would leave lower tiered programs, I have seen a "few" and trust me... you don't want to go into those programs. You could apply if you got $$$ to spare... it wouldn't hurt but you had better have a better reason to go into Path then because "I didn't get into Ophth"... You could reapply to Ophth next year and top tier Path programs probably won't take you if you are going to vacate the position in the future (that is if they realize this). Good luck to whatever path you take...